Author Archives: Lisa

NAFUSA Welcomes New Members in April 2025

Please welcome the following new NAFUSA members:

Michael Easley, Jr. served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina from November 2021 until February 2025. He is currently a partner at McGuire Woods in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jonathan Scott Ross was appointed United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama in May 2024 after serving as an AUSA in that office for ten years in positions including Senior Litigation Counsel, First Assistant and Acting U.S. Attorney. He resigned in August 2024 to enter private practice and is currently a shareholder with Maynard Nexsen in Birmingham.

Alamdar S. Hamdani served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas from December 2022 until January 2025 after being nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. During his tenure he served on the AGAC and chaired the AGAC’s Border and Immigration Subcommittee. He is currently a partner at Bracewell in Houston, Texas.

Stephanie Hinds served as United States Attorney for the Northern District of California from March 2021 to March 2023. She was appointed by then Attorney General Garland as Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys in in October 2024 and served there until February 2025.

Rebecca Lutzko served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from June 2023 until January 2025, first as Court appointed and then as the Senate confirmed nominee of President Biden.

Andrew Luger served as the United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota under President Obama from February 2014 until March 2017 and returned to that position under President Biden serving from March 202 until January 2025. After leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the second time, he returned to Jones Day as a partner in the firm’s Minneapolis office.

Trina A. Higgins served as the United States Attorney for the District of Utah from May 2022 until February 2025. She is the first woman to hold that position. After leaving office, she joined the Salt Lake City office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as Of Counsel for litigation and appellate practices.

Dena King was sworn in as the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina on November 29, 2021. She served in that position until February 2025. She is
currently a partner at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Joshua (Josh) Levy served as United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from May 2023 until January 2025. Following his resignation, he rejoined the firm of Ropes & Gray in its litigation and enforcement practice.

Sandra Hairston was sworn in as United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina in November 2021 after having previously served as Acting U.S. Attorney for that district. She served as U.S. Attorney until January 2025.

Leigha Simonton served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas from December 2022 until January 2025. She is currently a member at Dykema Gossett
PLLC in Dallas, Texas.

NAFUSA Board of Directors Meets in Nashville

The NAFUSA Board of Directors met the first weekend in April in Nashville, Tennessee.
Great city! It was the first in-person meeting for the class of 2027 directors elected in the
general membership meeting in September in Oklahoma City. Either in-person or virtually, all but one of our directors was able to attend this meeting.

In addition to financial reporting, organization business and membership updates covered in the meeting, the board voted on the Bradford Award Committee’s recommendation for the 2025 recipient of this prestigious award. There was also spirited discussion of issues of general concern and issues impacting our non-partisan association. The conference committee reported on plans for this year’s conference and panel leaders were appointed for the CLE program areas to be presented at the conference at the Willard Hotel in Washington DC in October. If you are interested in being a part of the conference planning, please let me or Lisa know or contact any of the NAFUSA officers or directors.

Additionally, there was discussion of recommendations for new directors which will be
presented to the membership for voting in October at the 2025 annual conference.
NAFUSA Directors play an important role in the operation of the organization. They are
instrumental in planning and presenting relevant, timely and interesting programs for our annual conferences, in recruiting sponsors, promoting the organization and seeking new members. It’s not all work, however. Our mid-year meetings are a great opportunity to get to know each other and enjoy the camaraderie and spirit of our shared experiences in interesting and fun locations. Please let us know if you are considering serving on our Board of Directors in the future. It’s a great opportunity to connect with other former U.S. Attorneys and take an active role in NAFUSA.

 

Death of Former U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber

Jessica Aber, who served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia for most of the Biden administration died in her home in Alexandria, Virginia, on March 26 of natural causes. She was 43. The news of her death greatly shocked and saddened her family and many friends in the U.S. Attorney and Department of Justice community. Her friends and colleagues were “heartbroken” to learn of her passing.

Ms. Aber, a career federal prosecutor, took office in October 2021, after being nominated by President Biden and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. She resigned from that position in January 2025. She was known for prosecuting high-profile cases involving organized crime and national security. U.S. Attorney Erik Seibert, who currently heads that office, remarked that “[Ms. Aber] was unmatched as a leader, mentor, and prosecutor, and she is simply irreplaceable as human being.”

Flag Ceremony for Family of Victor Ortega

 

As reported in the December 2024 NAFUSA newsletter, former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico and founding NAFUSA member Victor Otega died in May 2024, at the age of 91.

On February 6, 2025, a ceremony was held in the U.S. Attorneys Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico during which the flag flown over the Department of Justice in honor of former U. S. Attorney Ortega was presented to Carol Ortega, his widow. The presentation was made by lifetime NAFUSA member and former president Bill Lutz on behalf of NAFUSA. In addition to Mrs. Ortega, the ceremony was attended by current U.S. Attorneys Holland Kastin, Judge Harris Hartz from the 10th Circuit, who worked for Mr. Ortega in the 1970’s, and former U.S. Attorneys Fred Federici and Alexander Euballez , among others. Mrs. Ortega expressed her gratitude and thanked NAFUSA for the ceremony and flag honoring her late husband.

Update From 2024 Bradford Award Winner

New Jersey Assistant U.S. Attorney John Romano captivated NAFUSA’s 2024 Annual Conference attendees as he related the long and twisted history of the prosecution of foster parents Carolyn and Keith Jackson, who brutally tortured and starved young children in their care. The original trial judge sentenced the couple three times, twice after remand from the Third Circuit, significantly lower than the verdict and sentencing guidelines called for. The case went up to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals three times. The sentence was finally vacated and the case remanded for resentencing before a different judge. The link to the Third Circuit’s opinion on the appeal of the new sentence is below. Spoiler alert: John’s perseverance once again prevailed. Congratulations, John, and thank you!

Jackson Case Update

NAFUSA 2025 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

 

NAFUSA President Donna Bucella announced in Oklahoma City in September at the 2024 Annual Conference that NAFUSA’s Conference in 2025 will be held in Washington, D.C. at the historic Willard Hotel. Mark your calendars for October 8 -10, 2025! The unofficial start to the conference will be Wednesday morning, October 8 with golf for interested members at the Army Navy Country Club. Registration for golf AND the conference will not open until this summer, but we have already had sponsors coming forward to be a part of what is sure to be a great event. Keep reading your monthly newsletter for conference and sponsorship updates.

Atlanta Area NAFUSA Members Meet

 

In what appears to be becoming an annual event, former United States Attorneys from the Northern District of Georgia met over lunch in Atlanta in January. Former U.S. Attorney and NAFUSA member Joe Whitley (1990-1993) gathered together six former U.S. Attorneys who served in that role in subsequent years. Rick Deane (1998-2001), Bill Duffy (2001-2004). David Nahmias (2004-2009), Bjay Pak (2017-2021) and Kurt Erskine (2021-2022) welcomed the latest member to their join their ranks – Ryan Buchanan (2022-2025). Ryan is also one of NAFUSA’s newest members, having joined
in January 2025.

Welcome New NAFUSA Members

Members of NAFUSA are always happy to welcome former U.S. Attorneys to join us.
Traditionally, the number of applications for membership rises when there is a change in
presidential administrations, as there is this year. Starting this month, we will publish the
names and districts of new members each month in the newsletter, and we will begin this month by listing new members starting from September 2024.

September 2024
Steven Weinhoeft – Southern District of Illinois 2018-2022

October 2024
Henry Leventis – Middle District of Tennessee 2022-2024. Lifetime Member

December 2024
Lane Tucker – District of Alaska 2022-2025

January 2024
Ryan Buchanan – Northern District of Georgia 2022-2025
Michael Norton – District of Colorado [a returning member!] 1988-1993
Peter Leary – Middle District of Georgia 2022-2025. Lifetime Member

Welcome to NAFUSA! We hope to see you in October at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., for NAFUSA’s 2025 Annual Conference.

Death of Richard Eagleton

Lifetime NAFUSA member Richard “Dick” Eagleton passed away on
November 23, 2024, at his home in Peoria, Illinois surrounded by his family.
He was 94. Dick served as the United States Attorney for the Central District
of Illinois during the Kennedy/Johnson Administration.

Dick graduated from Yale in 1952 where he was a member of ROTC. He
attended law school at the University of Illinois Law School after serving three
years of active duty in the Navy. He graduated law school in 1958 and
practiced law “taking whatever cases he could get” before being appointed
U.S. Attorney. He was proud to claim to be the only person to be appointed
U.S. Attorney from Peoria. He was elected 10th Circuit Judge in Illinois in 1970
where he presided for 20 years.

His years as a U.S. Attorney had a big impact on his life, and he enjoyed
exchanging stories about his experiences while in office. After retirement from
the bench, Dick, a third generation Eagleton to become a lawyer, spent time
carrying on his family’s tradition in the legal profession, becoming of counsel
to the Chicago based firm Hinshaw and Culbertson at its Peoria office. He
also enjoyed attending Cubs spring training and traveling with his wife, Joyce.

In fact, much of the traveling that Dick and his wife enjoyed during his
retirement years was to attend annual NAFUSA meetings throughout the
country. A longtime NAFUSA member, he greatly enjoyed visiting a different
location and socializing with younger NAFUSA members (most, if not all, were
younger than him) at the annual conferences. He was proud of the fact that he
was still attending the meetings and believed himself to be the only one
attending who dated back to the Kennedy/Johnson Administration of the
1960s. He was a familiar and welcome face at the annual conferences and
treasured his time there listening to “renowned speakers” and continuing
education programs. He was quoted as praising NAFUSA nonpartisanship
saying, “in a room full of lawyers … it’s hardly noticeable that politics are
involved, even though most have deep political roots.

In keeping with NAFUSA tradition, a flag was flown over the DOJ in his honor.
He will be greatly missed by his friends in NAFUSA.